Astrology

Astrology explores the effect of the sun, moon and nine of the planets (Venus, Mars etc.) of the solar system upon the earth and its inhabitants. Each planet is reputed to influence our lives. How this happens is said to be determined by the sign of the zodiac – 12 constellations (Leo, Virgo etc.) of stars beyond our solar system that became associated with ancient legends and myth. It was against the background of the zodiac constellations that the planetary positions were charted to determine the nature of events on earth.

The horoscope or birth chart is a symbolic map of the sky made to show the potential and characteristics of a person born at a particular time and place on earth. A modern birth chart is very similar in shape and form to the charts drawn by the Greeks during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD – the word horoscope comes from two Greek words, horos meaning time, and skopos meaning observer.

Modern astrology deals with the effects that the planets are believed to have on individual lives and events, and is more often used to assess character and potential than to predict specific future events. The aim of a chart interpretation is to describe clearly the personality that is revealed in the birth chart; the traditional body of knowledge used by astrologers to do this comes from ancient mythology, centuries of observation and adaptation, and now includes ideas from analytical psychology.